Young Children Are Researchers (YCAR) is a research study, practical activities and resources. YCAR gives parents, carers and educators innovative insights into how young children build knowledge to learn, and how to help them.

If you have a role in helping young children to learn, you and your children can benefit from YCAR.

YCAR is based at the University of Northampton Centre for Education and Research and is led by Co-Director of the Centre, Associate Professor Jane Murray.

Jane has developed new tools to help parents, carers, primary teachers and early childhood educators to look in novel ways at their existing approaches to helping young children learn.

The YCAR project gives educators, parents and young children exciting opportunities to reap the rewards of the YCAR research, by recognising young children learning as researchers.

The YCAR research has demonstrated that young children can learn effectively by behaving in the same ways as adult researchers. Yet surprisingly, many educators, parents and carers stop young children from using research behaviours to learn. This can be because adults often find it difficult to recognise the links between young children’s behaviours and their learning. It seems easier to plan lessons where children are given facts and set tasks by adults. The result? Children start to find learning boring, so before long they stop wanting to learn.

By recognising that Young Children Are Researchers we can:

  • Understand how young children use research behaviours to learn effectively
  • Enable young children to be successful learners
  • Help young children to want to learn… and keep wanting to learn.

Whatever your role in helping young children to learn, YCAR will help you to do that… and much more!

About Dr Jane Murray

Jane has a long history of working with children, parents and teachers in early childhood settings and primary schools. During a long and varied career, she has worked as an early childhood teacher, educational consultant, teacher educator and researcher in the field of education. She is currently an Associate Professor based in the Centre for Education and Research at the University of Northampton.

Photo of Jane Murray smiling
Jane Murray

The information on this website is based on rigorous research and publications, especially Jane’s book Building Knowledge in Early Childhood Education (2017) . For more information about the research, and links to Open Access versions, click here.